A text message sent to a real estate agent by a Chicago real estate brokerage seeking recruits didn't qualify as telemarketing or an advertisement under the Federal Communications Commission's definitions, a Chicago federal judge said earlier this year. And since the agent voluntarily provided his mobile phone number to the brokerage in emails several years earlier, the agent didn't have legal leeway to claim he didn't provide his consent, either.

In the wake of an Illinois appellate court decision striking down as unconstitutional the state law allowing Illinois’ nonprofit hospitals to avoid property taxes, a Chicago real estate investment group has filed a class action lawsuit against all every hospital in Illinois, alleging property owners in Cook County and elsewhere have been forced to pay higher real estate taxes than they otherwise should have to make up for what the plaintiffs allege the hospitals should have been paying.

CHICAGO — Consumers in Illinois have six months to claim their part of a $104 million settlement reached by the state Attorney General’s Office with manufacturers of products that have liquid crystal display (LCD) screens following claims that the companies illegally fixed the prices of screens used in electronic devices, including TVs and computers.

Palos Community Hospital’s clear and repeated notices that doctors are contractors, not employees, proved the undoing of a man’s medical malpractice suit, even though he claimed he could not read the notices.

An attorney connected to powerful Democratic Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan has filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court to block a referendum from landing on the ballot, which would ask Illinois voters to reform the way Illinois creates the legislative districts from which state lawmakers are elected.

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court has again invited the state's lawmakers and chief executive to a special evening session to observe the court in action. And two days later, the court will convene before an auditorium filled with students, teachers and other members of the public in Chicago's western suburbs during a rare session outside of Springfield, offering many a chance to see the court in action who may not otherwise get the chance.

A state appeals court’s ruling has ordered up yet more legal trouble for the owners of Chicago’s famous Wiener Circle restaurant, who a woman said don’t do enough to protect her and other customers should the restaurant’s renowned rowdy atmosphere spark altercations, like the one the woman claimed resulted in her suffering a broken arm.

An Illinois appeals court has upheld a McHenry County judge’s ruling that a Chicago lawyer is not obliged to give a slice of his $1.4 million legal fee to the suburban lawyer who referred a malpractice case to him, because the referring lawyer didn’t abide by rules requiring he inform the client the fee would be split.

While the U.S. Supreme Court declared two years ago that the state cannot compel independent home care and child care workers from paying money to public employees unions out of the checks they receive for their work from the state, a Chicago federal judge said the Constitution does not similarly forbid the state from requiring those same workers to be represented by a union.